In 1862 the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris became the epicenter of the study of hysteria the mysterious illness then thought to affect half of all women. There prominent neurologist Jean-Martin Charcots contentious methods caused furore within the church & divided the medical community. Treatments included hypnosis piercing & the evocation of demons & despite the controversy they caused the experiments became a fascinating & fashionable public spectacle. Medical Muses tells the stories of the women institutionalised in the Salpetriere. Theirs is a tale of science & ideology medicine & the occult of hypnotism sadism love & theatre. Combining hospital records municipal archives memoirs & letters Medical Muses sheds new light on a crucial moment in psychiatric history.